This invention relates generally to material used to improve fire and flame retardant qualities of other materials and particularly to materials utilized in combination with other materials to improve their fire and flame resisting qualities.
Many of the materials commonly used throughout a modern society which are so prevalent and pervasive as to go unnoticed are unfortunately highly flammable. As a result, various items and environments created for persons within such society are sources of substantial risk to the user""s and occupants arising out of fire and burning. For example, building materials used in most structures such as dwellings, commercial facilities and storage facilities include fabrication components such as wood, wood products, plastics, other synthetic materials and so-called composite materials. Often these man-made materials such as plastics, synthetics and composite materials employ binder materials which are highly volatile when heated and which are highly flammable and, in some instances, actually explosive in character.
In addition to the use of flammable and easily burned constituency in the building arts, other industries providing products such as clothing, household articles and furniture, automobiles and other vehicles also rely heavily upon materials for fabrication which are flammable. Home appliances and other articles used in the home such as novelty items and decorative items are also likely to contain flammable material.
As a result of the pervasive and continuing use of flammable or combustible materials throughout society, practitioner""s in the art have recognized and imperative need for protective materials which attempt to either render such materials to be flame or fire resistant or to provide a substantial improvement in heat insulation and resistive character.
In addition to the need to provide protective materials for otherwise flammable constituents of everyday society, a further need for protective material which improves fire or flame retardant properties arises in the fabrication of fire protective clothing or garments which are utilized by persons who, of necessity or choice, interact directly with fire or flame environments. Such clothing and fire resistant garments are used for example by fire fighters, hazardous material fire specialists and workers employed in industrial situations which require operation in extremely high temperature environments or environments which subject the worker to fire or flame such as steel mills or the like. Attempts to produce clothing or garments which are fire protective or heat resistant for such users must in addition to fire and flame retardant or resistant qualities also possess a high level of heat insulation property.
Faced with the continuing use of flammable materials throughout society and the need for fire protective clothing or garments, practitioner""s in the art have endeavored to create a variety of fire and flame retardant or resistant materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,985 issued to Brown sets forth a THERMAL BARRIER COMPOSITIONS in which a composition is particularly adapted for coating structural surfaces to provide them with a thermal carrier to protect them from the detrimental effects of fire comprises an aqueous mixture of (a) lithium mica, (b) wollastonite, (c) aluminum trihydrate, (d) nepheline syenite, and (e) soda bicarbonate. The composition may be diluted with water to facilitate application. The composition may also contain raw vermiculite, sodium aluminum sulfate, borax, calcium sulfate, sodium silicate and other additives to improve the fireproofing, insulation and/or structural strength properties of the material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,533 issued to Pope et al. sets forth a FIRE SUPPRESSING COMPOSITIONS AND METHOD which are produced by reaction of lignosulfonates with carbonate of soda to produce low-cost chemical reagents useful for fighting fires in progress or for treating flammable materials to render them non-flammable. Methods for producing the fire retardant compositions in liquid, foam or adhesive form are also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,175 issued to Shutt sets forth a FIRE RETARDANT COMPOSITIONS which are generally non-caking compositions of intimately intermixed ammonium phosphate, e.g. mono and/or diammonium phosphate; sodium tetraborate containing molecularly bound water, e.g. the decahydrate, borax; and fractured finely ground solid powder particles of soda-containing silicate glass which have a high and irregular surface area and an active dry moisture absorbent surface condition for maintaining the particles of ammonium phosphate and sodium tetraborate in moisture protected disposition and for inhibiting the tendency of such particles to adhere to one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,633 issued to Cruz, Jr. sets forth POLYMERIC MATERIALS COMBINED WITH MODIFIED HYDRATED MAGNESIUM ALUMINOSILICATES in which the aluminosilicates are treated with aqueous acidic solutions and subjected to controlled agitation to convert highly porous concertina-shaped granular hydrated magnesium aluminosilicates into groups of electrolyte insensitive platelets. Water slurries of the groups of platelets when dried to form coherent, continuous sheets which when mechanically disintegrated may be reslurried in water. The modified heat exfoliated magnesium aluminosilicates are adapted for use in fire retardant, loose fill cellulose insulation, paper and pulp products, synthetic polymeric materials, coatings such as fire retardant acoustic coatings, dog foods, defoliants and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,502 issued to Graham et al. sets forth INTUMESCABLE FIRE-RETARDANT PRODUCTS such as asphalt roofing material made fire-retardant by inclusion of a layer of intumescable hydrate soluble silicate particles. Preferred soluble silicate particles carry a protective moisture-resistant coating which increases the life of the roofing material, and also makes possible convenient manufacture of the particles. The protective coating includes a metal cation capable of reacting with the silicate ion of the core particle to form a reaction product that is less soluble than the core particle. The reaction is believed to seal any openings in the protective coating, thereby lengthening the effective life of the coating. Besides utility in roofing materials, the coated particles are useful as fire-retardant additives in many other products, including polymeric articles, sheet materials, coating compositions, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,481 issued to Drew sets forth FLOWABLE PRESSURE-COMPENSATING MATERIALS which are directed toward improving one or more aspects of the flowable material, such as by providing/improving flame retardancy and/or the homogeneity of the composition over time. For instance, one composition includes a liquid, a viscosity-increasing material, and beads having a preselected coating thereon to provide for a coupling interaction with at least one of the liquid and the viscosity increasing material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,587 issued to Musselman et al. sets forth MATERIALS FOR USE AS FIRE RETARDANT ADDITIVES using a method of modifying an inorganic material which evolves gases and/or vapors at a temperature which is detrimental to the processing the temperature of polymer or paper systems so that the modified material can be used as a fire retardant additive with that polymer or paper system. The method comprises the steps of: (1) providing a first material; (2) treating the first material to remove the portion which involves gas which is detrimental to the processing of the polymer or paper system; and (3) combining a second material with the first material to create a modified material which does not evolve gas at a temperature which is detrimental to the processing of the paper or polymer system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,691 issued to McLaughlin et al. sets forth COLLOIDAL PARTICLES OF SOLID FLAME RETARDANT AND SMOKE SUPPRESSANT COMPOUNDS AND METHODS FOR MAKING THEM which concerns compounds that provide flame retardancy and/or smoke suppressant properties to fibers, textiles, polymeric articles, paper, paint, coating and insulation. More particularly, the present invention concerns colloidal-sized particles of hydrated salts, organic phosphates, metal borates, polyamides, solid halogenated flame retardants with a melting point greater than 250 degrees C., molybdenum compounds, metallocenes, antimony compounds, zinc compounds, bismuth compounds and other solid chemicals which act as flame retardants or smoke suppressants. The present invention also concerns various milling processes to reduce these materials to colloidal sizes and to disperse them in water, organic liquids and meltable solids.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,323 issued to McLaughlin et al. sets forth COLLOIDAL PARTICLES OF SOLID FLAME RETARDANT AND SMOKE SUPPRESSANT COMPOUNDS AND METHODS FOR MAKING THEM which concerns compounds that provide flame retardancy and/or smoke suppressant properties to fibers, textiles, polymeric articles, paper, paint, coating and insulation. More particularly, the present invention concerns colloidal-sized particles of hydrated salts, organic phosphates, metal borates, polyamides, solid halogenated flame retardants with a melting point greater than 250 degrees C., molybdenum compounds, metallocenes, antimony compounds, zinc compounds, bismuth compounds and other solid chemicals which act as flame retardants or smoke suppressants. The present invention also concerns various milling processes to reduce these materials to colloidal sizes and to disperse them in water, organic liquids and meltable solids.
While the foregoing described prior art compositions and materials have to some extent improved the art and have in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for ever more improved, efficient, effective and economically producible fire and flame retardant materials.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved fire and flame retardant material. It is a still more particular object of the present invention to provide a flame and fire retardant composition which may be utilized in combination with other normally flammable materials to produce a final material which is highly flame and fire resistant. It is a still more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved fire and flame retardant material which may be mixed with appropriate binders to form flexible insulative coating materials which retain fire and flame retardant qualities. It is a still more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved fire and flame retardant material which may be fabricated in a straight forward simple method of fabrication and which may be produced utilizing readily available materials which are neither exotic in character nor expensive to purchase.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a fire and flame retardant composition comprising brazing flux, baking soda, lime and redwood bark mixed in approximately equal parts by volume. In a general sense, the invention provides a fire and flame retardant composition comprising by percentage volume: brazing flux 10% to 40%, baking soda 10% to 40%, lime 10% to 40% and redwood bark 10% to 40%.